304 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
VARYING PROBLEMS OF CEMETERY CARE 
An address before the New England Cemetery Association, by Su- 
perintendent Fisher, of the Walnut Hills Cemetery, Brookline, Mass. 
There being scarcely two cemeteries 
with conditions just alike, the care of one 
would not be suited to that of another ; 
for instance, a cemetery where driveways 
consist, in part sand and soil, the amount 
of labor spent in destroying weeds must 
be considerable, while .the one where drive- 
ways consist of stone and binding gravel 
there is little to do in the line of weed 
destroying. 
It is the few and not the many ceme- 
teries which are favored by nature with 
everything to do with, such as soil, stone, 
binding gravel and sand. Those which 
have more than two of these essentials are 
fortunate. 
It pays well for all cemeteries, however 
situated, to surface with ' a deep soil ac- 
cording to the exposure to the sun. The 
interest upon the cost of the needed extra 
soil would be small as compared with cost 
of water required to offset it in time of 
drought. This is applicable to the village 
cemetery as well as that of the city, for, 
as a general thing, soil can be purchased 
at prices that correspond to its perpetual 
care rates. 
The old method of cutting off limbs of 
trees some two or more inches from the 
trunk or from larger limbs so as not to 
impair their vitality has for some time 
been considered unnecessary, and the bet- 
ter way is to cut close, so that the bark 
may grow over the scar quickly, leaving 
little or no trace of a limb having been 
removed. Scars too large to heal over 
may be seen in some cemeteries where 
limbs of great size have been removed 
from large trees. How much better, in 
most cases, to have foreseen that and re- 
moved the limbs when the scars would 
have been smaller, and in some cases 
spared the annoyance which they must 
have caused. When it is evident that a 
limb will grow to be a source of injury 
to carriages or drivers they should be re- 
moved whole small. 
Should a stranger notice a considerable 
amount of dead wood in the trees, would 
he be apt to think that the superintendent 
was to blame for such a condition? Pos- 
sibly he would conclude that the superin- 
tendent did not have the necessary funds 
at his disposal for the work, and in pass- 
ing through the cemetery he sees no indica- 
tions of shiftlessness such as tools or 
equipment left where last used, he would 
doubtless be correct in his conclusions. 
What would be true concerning the trees 
would be true concerning any unfinished 
work, provided it appeared to him to be 
done, as far as it had gone, in a workman- 
like manner. Now, suppose this stranger 
should see here and there a monument 
whose base was set too high, either out of 
proportion to the rest of the monuments 
or to correspond with the monuments in 
the vicinity, or, worst of all, so that the 
foundation can be seen, would he not be 
justified in thinking that the superintendent 
lacked something beside funds? 
That time should have passed when the 
foundation should be brought to the sur- 
face of the natural grade, regardless of 
height of base or whether it be in a hill- 
side when bases should be thicker than 
those set on a flat. All things being equal, 
these things are done to gratify the dealer 
who wants his customer to see all that he 
is paying for. 
The writer was driving through a ceme- 
tery on one occasion, two years ago, and 
came upon two men about to place a base 
of a headstone upon a foundation. It 
could be seen that the turf about the foun- 
dation had not been removed. After sev- 
eral trials of tilting the base and remov- 
ing some dirt with the hands it appeared 
to be down on the foundation, but not 
quite satisfactory as to level, so it was 
again tilted back and held by one of the 
men while the other went to the driveway 
and procured a double handful of sand or 
gravel and threw some of it under the 
stone ; then the base was again tried with 
the level and found to be all right ap- 
parently, for the next movement was the 
closing in of the turf by stamping with 
the feet of one of the men and by the use 
of a small hammer in the hands of the 
other. Can there be a superintendent pres- 
ent who thinks this the proper way to set 
a stone? Certainly not, but who would 
venture that the stone was not better with 
its sand or gravel shimming than it would 
have been if shimmed with worn-out sec- 
tions from bush hammers to corrode and 
be likely to stain the stone for all time. 
There is no better time to set a stone 
properly than at the first setting of it, 
and the most satisfactory results seem to 
be where cemetery regulations require all 
such work to meet the approval of the su- 
perintendent, and when somebody in charge 
goes to the lot upon the arrival of the 
stone and removes the turf on all sides 
of the foundation. The wider the space 
the better, for it facilitates raising the de- 
pressed edges with the edge of a spade, 
and in the meantime this person should be 
prepared to give information concerning 
what may or may not be used to attach 
ropes or chains to and the course to follow 
in gaining the foundation and also prevent- 
ing unnecessary injury to grass or other 
things. For instance, to place boards or 
planks 'under the ends of the sides to pre- 
vent them going into the turf when the 
weight comes upon them, for it is the ex- 
ception for a stonesetter to do so of his 
own accord. So long as the conditions 
required the presence of the person in 
charge, payment for such service should be 
included in the cost of the foundation. 
If the grass becomes thin in some places 
and there seems to be no other reason 
why the lawn should be spaded up, good 
results have been obtained without disturb- 
ing the surface by simply sowing some 
seed upon it, preferably when the ground is 
open, as in the latter part of March 
usually. The latter part of August is gen- 
erally accepted as the best time for seed- 
ing down upturned soil, as weeds are less 
apt to follow August, seeding than they are 
to follow spring seeding. 
What may be said in favor or disfavor 
of the lowering device, it has now reached 
such a degree of exellence that the public 
demands its use. Possibly in time the la- 
bor-saving device for filling a grave in a 
minute will be equipped with an arrange- 
ment for properly tamping the filling, so 
that no settling will take place for years. 
Let us hope the public will not demand 
this filling device until it is perfected with 
the tamping attachment. 
